8 Facts about the problem as it was in Ancient Rome

1. An average wealthy Roman could have around 400 slaves, they did most everything for them. There were so many slaves that each wealthy Roman had, that there was no need to pay roman citizens to do any work. This was a problem for the citizens that got their income from the wealthy.
2. So much work was done by slaves, that roman citizens were forced out of jobs. The wealthy would rather have slaves do their work and chores for free, rather than paying Roman citizens to do the work. As more and more slaves came in from conquered areas during Roman expansion, less and less roman citizens had jobs.
3. As more Roman citizens were unemployed, they became more reliant on the government to take care of them. This was a problem. To pay for all the people that relied on the government, the government was forced to raise the wealthy’s taxes. The government taxed the wealthy on their slaves and many began to free their slaves.
4. The government spent a majority of its money (taxes) on the lower class, because most had no job that would be able to support their family. So instead they relied on the government and its free rations of grain and bread oil. As more and more people were becoming unemployed due to slave labor, there was no money left over to pay citizens to maintain public areas.
5. Slaves were very important to the Roman Empire, they did so many tasks that without them Rome might not have been able to function. They worked in private households, farms,and mines.
6. Ancient Roman slave’s life expectancy was around 20 years due to their often harsh treatment. However there were so many slaves in Rome that 20 years was plenty long for them to live. To keep the numbers up, rome would have to receive anywhere from 250,000 to 400,000 new slaves annually. With expansion many slaves were produced, but eventually the rate of slaves coming into Rome would decline.
7. Many slaves were privately owned and worked on farms or businesses. However, many were publicly owned by Rome. These slaves worked on public buildings and public works, such as aqueducts, roads and arenas. Some buildings that these slaves built were for public and community use, others were built for wealthy individuals for the community.
8. Slaves were treated as if their masters “owned” them and they were their property. If a slave ran away, they would be severely punished if ever caught because they essentially stole their owners property. Slaves would be bid over in their markets and would be stripped until they were naked so that the bidders would be able to see if they were “fit” for the job that they wanted/needed them for.

Sources:

http://www.richeast.org/htwm/greeks/romans/slavery/slavery2.html
http://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/slaves_freemen.html
http://www.princeton.edu/~pswpc/pdfs/scheidel/050704.pdf

8 Facts About the Problem as it is Current Day

1. Large “big-band” companies in the U.S. (that employ a fifth of all american workers), cut/decreased their work forces in the U.S. by 2.9 million and increased the amount of work forces overseas by 2.4 million in the 2000s. A Wall Street Journal analysis said, “Thirty-five big U.S.-based multinational companies added jobs much faster than other U.S. employers in the past two years, but nearly three-fourths of those jobs were overseas.”
2. Over time, as the big-band companies continue to outsource, the U.S. manufactures have had to take it the hardest. Manufacturing employment in the United States dropped 8 million over 30 years time (1979-2009). This is due to the companies that employ much of the american workers, outsourcing. The amount of manufacturing plants has shrunk by 15,000 plants over ten years time (1998-2008). These jobs were the stable middle class jobs for decades, and they have received considerable loss because of it.
3. Some of the largest and most well known companies are some of the biggest culprits in outsourcing. Nike, who subcontracts all of its footwear production to independently owned and operated foreign companies and Apple, who conducts all of its manufacturing on foreign shores.
4. Why do companies, especially large ones, chose to outsource over having american employers? Well, its all about the money. In foreign countries the amount needed to be paid for labor is less. However, labor cost savings has decreased over the years. The gap in cost between China and the U.S. has shrunk by 50% over the past 8 years, and is predicted to get down to 16% by 2013.
5. Costs for labor in china are rising, and so are places elsewhere. Added to the increased cost for shipping, the amount of appeal for outsourcing may be decreasing. Unfortunately, only 4% of large companies had plans for the future to relocate jobs back to the U.S., according to a recent Duke survey.
6. To date there has been a job loss in the U.S. of 300,000 to 500,000 due to outsourcing. The projected/projected continuism of job loss is 3.3 million to 6 million jobs. Amount of jobs in the U.S. at risk due to outsourcing is 14.1 million.
7. “In a trend that began in the late 1970s and picked up speed in the 1990s with the opening of trade with China, India and Eastern Europe, competition from foreign imports forced U.S. firms to find cheaper and better ways of doing business.” ~The Washington Post
8. As 2013 starts, it is being realized that's it not just technology jobs being outsourced. It’s also financial business, and it is said that 2 million jobs will leave the United States and Europe to cheaper locations for just financial business. Many other fields of employment are also projected to be outsourced such as life sciences, management, business, computer and even legal. The wage differences in almost all fields of business is much less in third world countries especially India, which is why many companies outsource, to save money.

Sources:
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/labor/news/2012/07/09/11898/5-facts-about-overseas-outsourcing/

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/tax-reform/news/2004/03/16/639/outsourcing-statistics-in-perspective/

http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/outsource.html

Experts Contacts

• Problem in modern day-Alex Lach, author of article: button to send email to him on website (email was sent to him on 1/17/13)

• Problem in modern day-Andrea Peterson, skype: 202-481-8119 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 202-481-8119 FREE end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 202-481-8119 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 202-481-8119 FREE end_of_the_skype_highlighting FREE end_of_the_skype_highlighting email: apeterson@americanprogess.org
• Problem in ancient Rome...Getzel M Cohen, skype: 513-566-1951 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 513-566-1951 FREE end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 513-566-1951 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 513-566-1951 FREE end_of_the_skype_highlighting FREE end_of_the_skype_highlighting email: getzel.cohen@uc.edu (ancient history professor at UC)

Email sent to Getzel Cohen:
Mr. Cohen:
Hello, my name is Katarina and I am a 7th grade student at Nagel Middle School in Cincinnati, Ohio. My classmates and I are doing a social studies project on Ancient Romes problems, and how we could have fixed those problems if we were able to go back into ancient Roman time. My topic is the slaves taking the Romans jobs, which lead to unemployment. I heard that you were a ancient history teacher at the University of Cincinnati. I was wondering if you could spare some of your time to answer a few of my questions on this topic for my research.
1) Why was the government unable to solve the unemployment problem? Did they ever attempt to fix the problem?
2) How was the death rate in Rome affected by the strong amount of unemployment?
3) Did the loss of jobs and unemployment rate contribute to the fall of Rome? If so, how?
4) Were the unemployed Romans angry with the slaves, and the fact that they were losing their jobs due to them?
Did they ever take action against the slaves?

Thank you very much for your time! It is greatly appreciated.

Sources for expert contacts:
http://www.artsci.uc.edu/collegedepts/history/fac_staff/profile_details.aspx?ePID=OTEzNw%3D%3D

Solution sites:
http://economyincrisis.org/content/outsourcing-problem-protectionism-solution

http://old.larta.org/lavox/articlelinks/2004/040112_outsourcing.asp

http://www.cio.com/article/582863/Outsourcing_Prepare_Now_for_Anti_Offshoring_Legislation

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/21/anti-outsourcing-offshore-call-center-jobs_n_1371162.html

Strategic Plan for Rome

Causes of the problem in Rome: The causes for the slaves taking Roman citizens jobs in Rome were the fact that with all the expansion that Rome was doing, more and more slaves were coming into Rome. The wealthy would bid on these slaves and purchase them to be their property. As slaves continued to flood into Rome, the wealthy and government no longer needed the poor Romans to do jobs for them. This put many Romans out of work, and they no longer had the income.

Why the Romans could not solve their problem: The Romans were unable to stop the strong unemployment rate of Romans due to slaves taking their jobs for a few reasons. First, the wealthy owned these slaves. It was almost impossible to get the wealthy to stop having slaves. Just like many of us, they would rather have their work done for free by their property (slaves) then paying a Roman to do it. Second, with very little tax money coming in, the slaves were the ones forced to work on public areas because it was the cheapest way for Rome to maintain their city. With so many unemployed Romans, their economy was falling apart. So many could not pay taxes and afford to buy food and other resources.

Similar problem today: (brief description) A problem in modern day that is similar to the slaves taking Roman jobs in ancient Rome, is outsourcing. It is cheaper for companies to have their employees overseas and in third world countries because they are willing to work for a lower price, and the minimum wage there is also lower than the U.S.

Technology, resources, people, information & laws that contribute to the solution of the current problem: Bills have been introduced in congress and at least four legislatures to try to help solve outsourcing. In 2010, a bill was proposed by Senator Chuck Schumer that would have put an excise tax on companies that outsource their call-center jobs. Unfortunately, this bill did not pass. Also, the CWA says that the bill would protect american consumers, as well as discouraging outsourcing. The union released a report that states that foreign call centers are more subject to having security problems with their customers personal information then does their American counterparts. A recent bill in Florida that passed the state senate, stated that “...would require that companies with state contracts have their call centers in the U.S...”

How Rome can use today’s resources to solve their problems: Solutions to solve the slaves taking Roman jobs problem in Rome can be found in modern day solutions to U.S. outsourcing. “Bills have been introduced in Congress and at least four state legislatures that put restrictions on foreign call centers or limit outsourcing of government contracts.” -Larta.org This proposal could lead to solutions that would prevent slaves taking Roman jobs. There could be a limited amount of slaves per wealthy Roman, therefore having extra job openings for Romans. Also, the government could tax each Roman based on how many slaves they had (a certain amount of tax money per slave owned). This would decrease the interest wealthy landowners would have in having strictly slaves working for them. Another solution would be to give the wealthy landowners benefits or tax breaks (decrease in taxes) for not giving their work to slaves. This would promote them to lower the amount of slaves working for them, and interest them to give jobs back to the many unemployed Romans.

VoiceThread script
Ancient Rome. It was a place of great wonder. It was a vast empire that was the strongest at the time. However, there were many factors that lead into the fall of Rome. Problem after problem occurred, and the Romans thought of no way to fix it.

Unemployment was one of the greatest issues that Rome had, and was a large contributor to the fall of Rome. Romans were out of work, with no income. It was creating much havoc in the city, but no one knew how to solve the issue.

My dear Numerianus,

I, Katarina, have come up with a solution to the slaves taking Roman jobs in our beloved city, Rome. I hope that this plan will be able to save our city, and it can continue to be one of the greatest empires of all time.

With all the expansion that Rome has been doing to expand its empire, there has been a steady flow of slaves coming in from conquered areas. Added to that, many Romans are choosing to be slaves to get them out of their debt. Slaves are being sold in the forum, with the wealthy bidding over them. Once the wealthy purchase their slaves, the slaves become the landowners property. They are not required to pay them for the work that they do for them. This is the sole reason the Romans are unemployed, it was cheaper for the wealthy to have slaves working for them then it was to pay Romans.

So, my emperor, this is where I come in. To solve the problem of unemployment in Rome. The source of the problem is in the control of the wealthy Romans, whom are the ones choosing the slaves as their workforce over their fellow Romans. Therefore, I believe that some changes need to be made for them, in order to sway their opinion in their current choosing to hire slaves over Roman laborers. The simplest way to do this, is to effect the amount of money that is in their possession. After all, this is the reason they have slaves working for them currently--to save money. So,I believe that you should give the wealthy Romans tax breaks as benefits if they so choose to have Romans as their workforce, rather than having slaves.

These “tax breaks” would be a decrease in taxes that the wealthy landowners would pay. By doing this, it will interest them to have Roman employees, rather than having their slaves do all of their work.

Now, my dear Numerianus, you may be questioning “How do I get this solution to succeed?” Well, you need to be sure that all the wealthy Romans are aware of the new law.
You may consider sending a few of your personal laborers or slaves to speak with the wealthy landowners personally about the recent law. Once this step is completed, the wealthy will begin to hire Romans and the unemployment rate of the Romans will drastically decrease.

Numerianus, I sincerely hope that this solution will solve the slaves taking Roman jobs, and save our dear city, Rome.

Sincerely,
Katarina Michna

MLA SOURCES:

• Lach, Alex. "5 Facts About Overseas Outsourcing." Center for American Progress. N.p., 9 July 2012. Web. 25 Jan. 2013.

• "Slaves & Freemen." PBS. PBS, 2006. Web. 25 Jan. 2013.

• Jamieson, Dave. "Anti-Outsourcing Bills Would Punish Companies That Send Jobs Overseas." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 21 Mar. 2012. Web. 25 Jan. 2013

Music used in final project credited to: Michna Z Otradovic, Adam Vadav, Capella Regia Musicalis